Best Government AV Project

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Exploration Space

The space shuttle may never fly again, but at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., visitors can get a peak at the next generation of spacecraft. The space agency’s new Exploration Space attraction blends interactive exhibits (including “On the Shoulders of Giants,” which features tomorrow’s vessels today) and live entertainment. Guests can attempt to dock with the International Space Station or land on the moon via audiovisual kiosks integrated by Spotlight Award–winner Electrosonic.

At regular intervals throughout the day, the exhibition area turns into a theater with a live presenter kicking off NASA’s “Explorers Wanted” show. The show spans several projection surfaces of varying size and shape. The main show appears on a large traditional center screen, as well as a circular screen to one side of the main screen. Accompanying imagery is projected onto four trapezoidal screens. Electrosonic used Dataton Watchout software to ensure the projected content was mapped exactly to the differently shaped screens and didn’t bleed over into the room. The Watchout system then had to be integrated with Medialon show-control software so that presenters can trigger the right multimedia content at the right times.

And like a high-tech NASA mission, the exhibit is rife with sensors that monitor temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors that could affect the operation of the AV equipment. The information gets fed into the show control system so that NASA technicians know about problems before they happen.